Various traditional means for alerting people of emergency events are based on the use of audible and visual type devices. These devices are typically dedicated for emergency annunciation and give general information about the event.
Known types of horns and strobes do not give precise event information. They also do not inform individuals in the area of the appropriate response. Audio systems give more information but some facilities do not have voice evacuation systems.
Many buildings have a video transmission system infrastructure. One example is hotels. In most contemporary hotels, all rooms have televisions. However hotels do not necessarily have voice evacuation systems.
There are thus continuing needs to provide more complete information to individuals as to developing emergency situations than is often now the case. Systems and methods that integrate existing monitoring or emergency systems with the audio and video infrastructure typically found in modern buildings have the potential of delivering more precise, detailed and easy to understand situational information to people in such buildings as well as emergency personnel responding to the event.